JPS5837601A - Room mirror for automobile - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain an antidazzling mirror which permits easy mounting and exchanging by constituting a filter part which generates an antidazzling effect of a liquid crystal plate, and contg. all of an electric power source and a driving circuit which drive and control the liquid crystal plate in a room mirror case. CONSTITUTION:A mirror case 11 is constituted in a thin type box-like body, and is mounted with a mirror 12 consisting of a glass plate plated by vapor deposition with a reflection material on the rear surface in the opening part of the front surface. A filter part 13 is provided to the front surface of the mirror 12 in a joined state. The part 13 consists of a liquid crystal plate sealed with a liquid crystal material 16 between transparent glass plates 14 and 15, and a polarizing plate 17 provided on the front surface thereof. When a driving voltage is applied to the transparent electrodes sandwiching the material 16, the part 13 is made transparent and easily light transmittable. When no voltage is applied, said part is made semitransmittable and antidazzling. A solar battery 18 is provided on the rear part of the case 11, and a driving circuit 19 stored in the rear part of the mirror 12 applies and controls the driving voltage. The case 11 is mounted by means of a mounting stay 21 to a ceiling 22 via a spherical neck part 20.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an automobile rearview mirror equipped with a filter RS using a liquid crystal plate to reduce glare caused by the headlights of a following car, especially when driving at night.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, automobile rearview mirrors have been provided with an anti-glare mechanism to reduce glare caused by the headlights of a following vehicle when driving at night.

This anti-glare mechanism generally has a mechanical structure that achieves the anti-glare effect by varying the reflection angle, but as an improvement to this, the anti-glare mechanism is electrically controlled. An automobile rearview mirror that has a dazzling effect is being considered.

In other words, by providing a filter section with a liquid crystal plate on the front of the bell that constitutes the room mirror, and controlling the light transmittance of the liquid crystal plate, the light transmittance of the liquid crystal plate part can be improved, especially when an anti-glare effect is required. The aim is to reduce the

Therefore, an anti-glare mirror that uses such a liquid crystal plate filter requires a drive circuit and a power source to supply a driving voltage to the liquid crystal plate. It is something that becomes. In other words, since the 1E source and the drive control circuit for the liquid crystal panel are set up separately from the rearview mirror, it is necessary to install the wiring through a part of the steering wheel, etc., and the installation of the rearview mirror requires the entire structure. The situation becomes complicated.

′! f, friend, when using such a liquid crystal panel as a full filter member, especially when the headlights of the following vehicle are high beam, the full light detection mechanism will detect this, and the detection signal will be used to provide effective protection. It is also possible to create a dazzling effect. In such a case, the light detection mechanism is located inside the rearview mirror, for example, and the detection signal from this detection mechanism is supplied to a separately installed control circuit to control the liquid crystal drive circuit. It is something. For this reason, the setting location of the light detection control circuit, the wiring between these circuits, etc. are also required, and the mounting of the rearview mirror becomes more complicated than the manufacturing process.

This invention was made in view of points such as 1.T'L,f
r.

We aim to provide a complete range of automotive rearview mirrors that can be easily installed using the anti-glare effect of the liquid crystal plate filter without any special wiring such as power supply circuits, and furthermore. An object of the present invention is to provide a rearview mirror for an automobile that is automatically set to an anti-glare state at night when an anti-glare effect is required.

That is, in the automobile rearview mirror according to the present invention, a lock and a filter portion consisting of a liquid crystal plate located in front of the lock are attached to a case rotatably attached to a mounting stay, and a power battery for the liquid crystal plate is attached. The drive circuit is integrated with the case, and the power supply battery is constructed of solar cells, so that the power is automatically cut off in dark conditions such as at night. 1. The anti-glare state is automatically set. An embodiment of the present invention will be fully described below with reference to the drawings.

Figure 1 shows the cross-sectional comb structure of the rearview mirror.
is a mirror case, consisting of a book-shaped box with one side open. In the front opening of this mirror case 1,
For example, a bell 12 made of a glass plate coated with an aluminum tube reflective material is attached to the back surface of the mirror 11.
A filter portion 13 is provided in a state of being joined to the front surface of the filter.

This filter section 13 includes a pair of transparent glass plates 14 and 15.
It consists of a liquid crystal plate with liquid crystal glue sealed between them, and a polarizing plate 17 provided in front of the liquid crystal plate.Although details are not shown, a pair of glass plates 14 and 15 have 16 parts of liquid crystal. Transparent electrodes are provided on each side.

That is, when a driving voltage is applied to the liquid crystal body 16 through this pair of electrodes, the crystals of this liquid crystal body 16 are aligned in a specified direction, and this filter section 13 is in a transparent state due to the relationship with the n1 polarizing plate 17. It is said that the light transmittance is in good condition. Then, in a state where no voltage is applied between the pair of electrodes,
Each crystal of the liquid crystal body 16 is twisted by 90 degrees and becomes semi-transparent due to its relationship with the polarizing plate 17, reducing the light reflected by the mirror 12 and creating an anti-glare state.

A solar cell 18 serving as a power source is provided on the back side of the mirror case 11, and a drive circuit 19, which is supplied with power from the solar cell 18, is located on the back side of the mirror case 2. 11, and this drive circuit 1
9 controls the application of a driving voltage to a pair of electrodes for controlling the liquid crystal body 16.

The mirror case 11 that houses and holds such an anti-glare mirror image is attached to a stay 21 through 20 spherical necks.
It is attached and fixed to.

FIG. 2 shows a specific example of the configuration of the drive circuit 19 section housed in the mirror case 1.
is composed of an oscillation circuit 19a that oscillates a rectangular wave when power is supplied from the battery 18, and a waveform shaping amplifier circuit 19b that converts this oscillation signal into a more accurate rectangular wave signal, and this signal is transmitted to the filter section. The negative side of the battery 18 is further supplied to a NOR circuit 23, and the output of this NOR circuit 23 is connected to the other electrode of the filter section 13. .

That is, according to the automobile rearview mirror configured as described above, the power supply circuit, the liquid crystal drive circuit, etc. are integrated into the mirror case 1, so that the wiring from the automobile body is not necessary. It becomes unnecessary. For this reason,
This rear-view mirror can be easily installed by anyone, just like a conventional rear-view mirror with a normal mechanical structure. Even if it is sold as one part, users can install and replace it themselves.

In addition, since the solar cell 18 is used as a power source, the power supply voltage is constantly supplied to the drive circuit 19 during the day when bright sunlight is exposed.
An electric field is applied to the liquid crystal body 16 to bring it into a state of good light transmission. Then, when sunlight disappears and the outside world becomes dark, the solar cell 18 stops generating electricity, and inevitably no electric field is applied to the liquid crystal body 16, and the filter section 13 becomes semi-transmissive to light, thereby preventing light from entering. It becomes a dazzling mirror state. In other words, when a driving situation occurs where the headlights of a following vehicle cause dazzling, the rearview mirror automatically becomes anti-dazzling. That is, it is automatically performed in accordance with the usage condition of the headlight, and the control circuit is significantly simplified, which is also effective for easy storage in the rearview mirror case 11. can do.

In the example described in 1, the solar cell 1B was used as a power source, but it may be configured with a normal battery power source such as a dry battery such as Zn or Nn or a mercury battery. This shows the structure of a room mirror when a normal battery 24 is used as a power source, and the battery 24 is housed in a case 11 together with a drive circuit 19.

In this case, a photodetector element 26 such as a phototransistor for detecting a strong light beam 25'r from the rear of the vehicle is provided corresponding to the front surface of the mirror.
A light detection control circuit 21 that controls the drive circuit 19 based on the light beam detection signal from the light beam detection signal from the mirror case 11 is also housed within the mirror case 11 . Other components that are the same as those in FIG. 1 are given the same reference numerals and their explanations will be omitted.

FIG. 4 shows a specific configuration example of the rear-view mirror drive circuit 19 and control circuit 27 as described above, and the drive circuit 19 is configured in the same manner as in the previous embodiment shown in FIG. A light detection control circuit 27 is provided between the NOA circuit 23 and the battery 24.

This light detection control circuit 27 detects and amplifies the light with a transistor 28 when the light detection element 26 detects all the strong light from behind (for example, the high beam light of the headlight of a following vehicle), and the NOR circuit 23
A signal is applied to the liquid crystal body 16 so that the filter section 13 using the liquid crystal body 16 exhibits an anti-glare effect.

In the embodiments shown in Figures 3 and 4 above, the light beam from the rear of the vehicle is detected and the anti-glare effect is automatically exerted, but the anti-glare effect can be achieved by manual operation using a manual switch. You can also make it work. For this reason, for example, instead of the light detection control circuit 27, an opening/closing switch operated by the driver may be provided.

As described above, according to the present invention, the filter section that generates the anti-glare effect is constructed by covering the liquid crystal plate, and the power supply and drive circuit for driving and controlling the liquid crystal plate are all housed within the rearview mirror case. It will be stored in. In other words, it can be made into 41 pieces as a single rearview mirror, and it can be easily attached to the vehicle body, and it is an effective item that allows users to replace the attachment to the cylinder part. It can be done.

14yr, If the power supply battery installed integrally in this single rearview mirror is composed of a solar battery,
'Lk Not only can it be used semi-permanently as a power source,
Furthermore, at night when an anti-glare effect is required, the liquid crystal body's vertical electric field is automatically cut off, creating an anti-glare structure, which is extremely effective as an automobile rearview mirror.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional configuration diagram showing a rear-view mirror according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a control drive circuit for the rear-view mirror, and FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional configuration diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention. Figure 4 shows the control rAj drive circuit of this embodiment.
"Filter section, 14.15...Glass plate, 16...
・Liquid crystal, 17...Polarizing plate, 1B...Solar cell, J
9... Drive circuit, 21... Mounting stay, 24...
Battery power source, 26...Photodetection element, 27...Photodetection control circuit 3.145 Applicant's agent Patent attorney Takeshi Suzue
To Hiko

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A case rotatably attached to a mounting stay, a mirror held by this case, and a filter section equipped with a liquid crystal plate that is set in front of this mirror and whose light transmission effect changes depending on whether or not a voltage is applied. and a battery power source integrally provided in the case, and the presence or absence of an anti-glare effect is determined depending on whether or not a driving voltage is applied to the liquid crystal panel from the battery power source. Automobile room mi 2
-0 (2) Installation is a case that is rotatably attached to the stay.
A mirror held in this case and a T set in front of this mirror
It is equipped with a filter section equipped with a liquid crystal plate that changes the light transmission effect depending on whether or not L'#L pressure is applied, and a power battery that is integrally installed in the case described in 1. This power battery is connected to the outside of the case. It consists of solar cells mounted directly in front of the screen, and in bright sunlight, a driving voltage is applied to the liquid crystal panel.
An automobile rearview mirror characterized by a filter section that exhibits an anti-glare effect only in dark conditions where there is no sunlight.